Hopeless
by mjane
Summary: AshtonCeline -- Ashton, dopey as usual, wallows in his misery on the roof of the Hilton Inn. Celine joins him and tries to shove important information through his thick skull.


This is my first post of fanfiction, so be gentle. I really like Ashton/Celine pairings and Rena/Dias pairings, but I'm cool with different approaches and couples, too. Anyway, please please review this!

_You're hopeless._

"Shut up; you can't know how I feel about it," said Ashton, with a sigh of unrepressed frustration. Gyoro and Ururun sniggered.

Ashton flopped limply onto the shingled roof of the Hilton Inn, stomach-first. Why couldn't he just tell Celine how he felt? He knew the answer well enough, but the thought still tormented him. She thinks no better of me than she does of Leon. Oh, gee...

"Maybe if I go to the bar... they're still open, it's still early..." said Ashton as he began to get up. His body halfway off the roof, he plopped down again and gave a wail of distress.

He had tried, ever since they had gone to Mars, to deny his feelings for her. Numerous were the times he had told himself that it was just her beauty, not her sassy, delightful personality that drew him to her. But nothing at all could dissuade him from loving her, and getting completely hammered wasn't going to help, either.

Ashton shuddered. He'd never loved anyone quite that way before, and the new feeling was somewhat frightening. By now, his head was cloudy; he was tired. Gyoro and Ururun had already fallen limp on his shoulders, asleep.

"Ashton, darling, I didn't expect to see you up here. Mind if I join you?" sprang Celine's silky-smooth voice from behind him. She had appeared as if from a dream; wearing a thin robe over her normal attire, eyes gleaming in the bright moonlight.

Ashton nearly jumped out of his skin. His heart hammered against his chest, he fought for words --

"S-sure," He said, sitting up in a flash. His face was tinged pink with a moderate blush. Gyoro snapped awake; Ururun blinked a few times and fell lazily back to sleep.

Celine sat down next to Ashton and gazed out at the sea. "Goodness, darling, the ocean is lovely... I just love how the moon reflects off the water... It reminds me that I'm far from home, though... Oh, dear, I seem to have lost my train of thought for a moment, darling. Do forgive me."

All Ashton could do was nod haphazardly; he felt as if his feelings were all balled up and lodged into his throat, threatening to launch themselves into reality. His hands were shaking slightly, and he felt ill. He dared not look at her. He must not look at her...

He gazed over at her and felt his insides flutter. A vagrant sea breeze twirled betwixt Celine's silvery hair. She shivered from its coldness and pulled her robe closer around her.

A light went off in Ashton's head. With even more blood rushing to his face, he unclasped his cloak and began to take it off.

"Oh, no, darling, I'll be fine..." Celine protested when she saw, but Ashton shakily removed it and hooked it onto her shoulders, carefully maneuvering around Celine's hovering ring.

"Thank you," Celine said with a gentle smile. An honest, almost vulnerable smile, a kind that Ashton had rarely seen on her face. He stole a glance into her eyes and quickly looked away. He didn't notice her faint blush that almost matched his own.

"Darling, may I confide in you?" said Celine after a moment, not meeting Ashton's gaze, but staring at the heavens.

"O- Of course, Celine. Tell me – Anything," stuttered Ashton, who shifted nervously on the cold shingles of the roof. His heart once again pounded insanely, as if it wanted to tear through his chest and escape.

Celine laid back and pulled Ashton's cloak over herself. "Well, there's – there's this man, darling. He's very sweet...poor thing, he is such a darling... but he doesn't know what I think of him."

Ashton's heart sank. Who was this guy? How could he give Celine advice about love? Especially...?

"Oh, Celine, that must be... terrible... Is there anything I can do?" Ashton asked despite himself.

"Well, darling, that's very sweet of you to offer... perhaps only I can be the one to solve my problem..." Her face was almost unmistakably pink. She was glad it was dark; for the moon camouflaged her skin color.

"I hope that he sees how much you care, Celine. Best of luck," said Ashton distantly. Celine gave a nervous laugh.

"You're one to be offering me luck," She chuckled, looking at Ashton's dragons. Ururun gave a loud snore.

Ashton made a nervous laugh. "You have a point."

Tell her now, Gyoro suggested. Ashton was surprised to find Gyoro still awake. He shook his head. He could never tell her his feelings; he couldn't bring himself to it. He had convinced himself a long time ago that she had no interest in strange, deformed, lonely little Ashton. And now she was in love with another man, and Ashton was, not surprisingly, out of luck.

"Ashton, darling, do you think that this young man would... like me?" Ashton looked surprised.

"Of course he would. Why wouldn't he?" asked Ashton.

Celine pointedly did not meet his gaze. "Well, I'm a bit... flamboyant, aren't I, darling?"

"If this guy is decent, he'll love you for who you are," Ashton said flatly. Then, out of the blue, he made a startling decision; that if he could not be happy, at least she should be. He pulled one of his many charms from around his neck. They were hidden underneath his robes, so Celine had never seen them before. She looked on with interest.

"Here, Celine, please take it. It's a good luck charm," Ashton said as he handed her the delicate necklace with a beautiful Heraldic symbol for Good Luck as its charm. She looked astonished. "Since I really have no luck to begin with," he glanced over his shoulders at his sleeping dragons, "then I should offer you this instead. If you tie a lock of this man's hair on the tail of the symbol for a night, something good might just happen. Good luck with the man of your dreams," said Ashton with a faint smile as he rose to his feet.

"Ashton--!" Celine said abruptly. But Ashton interrupted her.

"I think I'm going to go to bed. Good night, Celine. Get some rest," said Ashton. He grabbed her hand, gave it a quick kiss, and turned quickly away before she could note his glaring flush. Had he not turned so quickly away, he would have noted an identical one on Celine's cheeks. He climbed down into the warmth of the hotel via the ladder and made his way to his room. Still flushed and shaking from nervousness, he collapsed onto his bed and laughed nervously to himself.

"I can't believe my luck... it figures she's in love with another man... oh well... I've done the right thing by giving her my blessing," said Ashton sadly to himself. And after all, now that both of his dragons were now sound asleep, it didn't take him long to follow suit.

Celine still sat on the roof of the inn, holding the good luck charm between her thin fingers.

"You're so hopeless, darling..." said Celine with a small smile as she picked a loose strand of Ashton's hair from his cloak.


End file.
